READING BOOKS!!!

In this internet age, the habit of reading books is dying a slow death. People prefer to download e-books and read it on the computer screen or listen to the audio version or just watch the movie (if and when it is made). I love to read the hard copy of books and nothing can replace them. My idea of relaxing during a weekend or vacation is lying down in a comfortable position with a good book in hand.

Recently, I read Jeffrey Archer's "A Prisoner of Birth" and really loved it. Well, how many of you read books and what is your opinion? Please share your thoughts.

I fully agree with you. No pastime can substitute (except probably chitchatting with friends) books reading, especially when a person likes to be lonely. Reading books gives you immense pleasure. Though I have made a career in IT, am yet to bring myself to reading e-books, nothing like reading the hardcopy. How many of you have been successful in reading e-book? I, once tried, reading 'God Father' ( probably a wrong book to read in e-form) but found it extremely difficult to follow and then decided against reading e-books.

Am yet to read the latest book of Jeffrey but am an ardent fan of Jeffrey Archer. Recently I read "Airport" by Arthur Hailey (thanks to you, Senthil) and loved it.

Bye for now.

Well said... No amount of e-books can replace the hard copy of books. Till date I was never successful in reading even a single e-book when it comes to leisure reading. But I was able to do it for technical reading.

Also I wonder will the future generation (dubbed as Gen Y) will value the hard copy of the books to the same extent as we do. I guess may be they won't, because from day one of their life they will get use to PC life... unlike us who started using PC in our college life.

Cheers,
M;~}

I did find JA's book very engrossing - the tempo of the story kept unfledging uptil the last page.Quite unputdownable, if I may say so.

After a slew of mediocre to ordinary books (esp. his Jail Diaries), JA has finally come up with a real good one --- as good as, or even better than his "Not A Penny....."

The smart sequences of the incidents;intellegently laid plot; well thought out characters - all blend to give a neat and elegant narration. Hardly any missing loop or glaring faux paux in the flow of things.

And the subtle humour with delectable expressions increase the readability quotient of the ( anyway ) interesting story.

There are only two aspects which may seem implausible:
(a) can there be such look alikes, that one can pass off for the other so convincingly?
(b) can language, expressions,gestures and even taste in food, clothing, etc. be upgraded to that of a wealthy man in such a short span of time?
"Think like one and act like the other" ?

My answer is that ,(b) though improbable, may not be altogether impossible. (Like haven't we seen NRIs acquiring American accent, dollar equation in money, and an irreverence to Indian Culture in 6 to 8 months!). A devoted teacher and a determined student could jointly accomplish this is my take on it.
Regarding (a), every fiction writer is granted that licence to bend or exaggarate a fact; otherwise it could well be a biography!

Those of you who have not read it - pick up a copy soon:Beg (from me);borrow (from Senthil);or steal (buy a pirated version):but get one now, won't you?

I felt the book was a modern count of Monte carlo (or was it cristo)

First of all, congratulations on your first ever forum post. Welcome to the Forum. Am sure your active participation will provide new perspective to all the members.

Pretty impressed with the review, which urges me to get and read the book at the earliest. The means for getting the book could be different say steal from you or Senthil.

Will post my opinion of the book after reading it.

I am greatly impressed by the number of replies that my posting has received.

First, let me answer the first question : have you ever enjoyed reading e-books? Well, the answer is "Yes". But it was a very rare circumstance.

I had read Sujatha's "Aaah..." in Ananda Vikatan long time back when it was published every week. The highlight of the book apart from Sujatha's incredible narration is that every episode would end with "Aaah...". The different ways that Sujatha had thought of to end each week's narration with the word "Aaah" would make us eagerly expect that week's edition of Ananda Vikatan. Suddenly I wanted to read that book again and though I browsed a few platform shops and Higginbothams couldn't find the hard copy of that particular book. So, I had to resort to downloading the e-book and luckily it was available in the net (though I don't remember from which site I downloaded it). And I thoroughly enjoyed reading the e-book inspite of having a lot of constraints :

• could read only during a particular time, after I come back from office and switch on my computer

• couldn't read for long periods as my head ached after even half an hour of reading the e-book

• navigating through the pages was very difficult as I had zoomed the pages for comfortable reading

• bookmarking the page as to where I had stopped for that day

Inspite of all these problems, I enjoyed the book mainly because of Sujatha. So, if anyone wants the (e)book, just ask me. Otherwise, if you had read the book, please post your comments. Will get back with another interesting topic soon.

Once again, thanks to all of you who had responded.